1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bait station including a bait reservoir, and more specifically, an insect bait station including an insect bait reservoir.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The present invention relates to bait stations and bait reservoirs. Although the preferred embodiment of this invention uses ants as an example, the preferred embodiment may easily accommodate other arthropods or may even be scaled up to accommodate small rodents.
Of the more than 10,000 species of ants in existence, fewer than 30 species commonly infest structures, but each of these pest ant species is dramatically different and presents widely varying challenges, making the ant, as a group, a highly challenging adversary. Different species of ants and even different ants within a species vary widely in many respects including size, color, shape, distribution, food preference, and nest locations. Despite these differences, there are some behavioral traits common to most ants, especially traits having to do with feeding and colonies. Ants generally feed on a variety of food sources and will forage wherever necessary to find it. In all species, it is the worker ants that venture out to forage for food and water for the entire colony. Worker ants leave the colony each day in search of food, and when food is found, the ant lays a scent trail from the food to the nest. Then, other ants follow this trail to collect food for the colony. The ants will either carry the particles back to the nest or ingest the food and regurgitate it upon return to the nest to feed other members of the colony, such as larvae and the queen who remain in the nest. While many species of ants will tolerate having only one queen in a colony, a few species will form multiple-queen colonies, thus making the colony more difficult to eliminate. This highly developed colonization system is a primary reason why ants are so successful and explains why they make such challenging foes.
In order to eradicate a colony, it is necessary to eliminate the reproductive queen, who does not leave the nest and is very well-protected by the workers. The worker ants seen foraging outside the nest for food form a minority of the colony population, and killing these ants has little impact on the colony. The most effective way to destroy insects such as ants is to lure the workers to poisonous bait, which is then taken back to the insects"" home where more complete exposure occurs. Then, the other ants in the colony, including the queen, consume the bait and die, thus eliminating the colony. Exposure of the bait to outside elements, however, can reduce its shelf-life and/or effectiveness.
Various types of devices for destroying insects are known in the art. Such devices commonly used include insecticidal sprays, traps, and poisonous baits. In some devices, the insects are trapped in the device after entering by either mechanical means or by sticking to an adhesive substance. Once these devices are full, they are ineffective to trap additional insects. As discussed above, the most effective way to eradicate a colony is to use poisonous bait. In some devices containing poisonous bait, the bait can be easily spilled from the device, causing risk of exposure to children or small domestic animals. Poisonous bait used in such devices may be in various forms including liquid, granules, gel, and pellets. To remain effective, the bait should not be exposed to outside elements. In other devices, there are tunnels or ramps directing the insects to the center of the bait station where the poisonous bait is located, but not all types of ants can use such tunnels or ramps to reach the bait. Because of the varying characteristics of the many different ant species, it is difficult to design a bait station that can accommodate different species of ants and different types of insects.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,410 to Knuppel, a baiting device includes a stem having a hollow upper end with a first opening and a second opening and a covered bait container mounted on the stem between the first opening and the second opening. The stem is hammered into the ground to secure the device. Insects enter the stem through the first opening and enter the container through the second opening of the stem.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,953,854 to Hyatt discloses a granular bait station having a tunnel entrance at the bottom leading to an interior bridged member, which then leads to a bait source contained within the interior of the bait station. The cover of the bait station also has an entrance leading to the interior bridged member.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,585 to Demarest et al. discloses a bait station for crawling insects. The bait station includes a base and a cover fastened to the base, and the base includes a bait cup with a bait cup wall. The cover includes a shell defining a walkway between the shell wall and the bait cup wall. The shell also includes a roof that spans the space encompassed by the shell wall, the roof being supportable by the side support. An antechamber is defined on one side by the side support and on another side by the shell wall, and the floor of the antechamber is continuous with the floor of the walkway. An antechamber door in the shell wall opens into the antechamber to admit targeted insects and is so located that straight line access through the antechamber door to the bait cup is restricted by the side support.
In the bait station of Payton et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,966,863, a liquid bait station for ants has separate nested inner and outer container sections with the inner container forming a liquid bait reservoir. The inner container reservoir has a lid that is closed whenever the outer container is closed, and access to the reservoir of liquid bait by the ants is indirect via one or more container access ports leading to a compartment inside the outer container and then via separate reservoir access ports leading from the compartment to the reservoir. The reservoir access ports can be depressions in a raised portion in the inner surface of the outer container""s cover or holes in the inner lid. Also, the ant bait station may be combined with a rodent bait station, provided there are separate internal compartments and separate access ports for the rodents and ants.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,193 to discloses a reusable and refillable insect bait station having base passageways to its interior bait reservoir, a removable top cap, and a lower ground engaging support stake member. The ground engaging stake member has upper protrusions that engage base notches to hold these two components together. The cap has a lower mating indent which engages a protruding member on the base to hold these components together in a snap fit relationship. When access to the base""s reservoir is desired, the removable cap is pulled off by a tab and the bait is inserted. Both the cap and the base should be made of a flexible weather resistant material, such as rubber or soft plastic, to permit the firmer stake material and its protrusions to easily be inserted in a locking manner into the base.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,943,817 to Miller discloses a snail bait holder and pest trap having a removably attached cover seated on a vessel to form a bait chamber. An impervious replaceable tray is positioned in the bait chamber, and the tray has a receptacle containing a layer of liquid adhesive with bait material disposed on the layer of liquid adhesive. Vessel walls are cut away to form ramps and openings for pests to travel over the ramps through the openings and into the bait chamber. The tray containing the bait and liquid adhesive is packaged for placement in the bait chamber with a thin film disposed over the tray. Before the tray with the bait and liquid adhesive is placed in the bait chamber, the thin film is removed from the tray.
In the bait station of Hyatt et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,943,816, an apparatus for liquid bait-toxicant delivery with feeding pores comprises a reservoir, a feeding disk with capillary feeding pores, a base that will seal the feeding pores when the station is closed; designed such that it can be opened or closed by several different arrangements; and a method of delivery of liquid bait-toxicant using capillary feeding pores in direct contact with liquid without using wicking material.
Finally, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,854 to Antonali et al., an insect bait assembly for retaining insect bait includes an elongate support body having spaced ends, an upper surface and a lower surface, and a reservoir monolithically formed with the support body. The reservoir has a peripheral wall extending upwardly from the upper surface of the support body and substantially surrounding and defining an interior cavity for holding the volume of insect bait. The support body has a reinforced region configured for strengthening the support body and resisting bending of the support body proximate the reservoir.
Of these prior art patents, none discloses a base having capability of being arranged in two different orientations, climbing assisting members, an elevated reservoir receiving area within the base for bait in any form, a reservoir having tapered walls and a hole proximate the corner between two tapered walls, and an ant and weather resistant cover.
The present invention relates to a bait station including a bait reservoir, and more specifically, an insect bait station including an insect bait reservoir. In a preferred embodiment reservoir, the reservoir comprises a chamber including a top having an opening, a bottom, and walls having an inside surface interconnecting the top and the bottom. The walls and the bottom define a cavity within the chamber. The inside surface of the walls includes climbing assisting members that assist insects in crawling on the inside surface of the walls.
In a preferred embodiment bait station for use with bait, the bait station comprises a base and an outer surface. The base has a cavity configured and arranged to receive the bait. The outer surface extends from the base and forms a ramp proximate the bait. The outer surface includes climbing assisting members to assist insects in crawling into the base.
In another preferred embodiment bait station, the bait station comprises a bait, a base, a first orientation, a second orientation, a cavity, an outer surface, a first set of side climbing assisting members, a second set of side climbing assisting members, and a cover. The base includes a first section and a second section forming an L-shape, and the base is capable of being used in two different orientations. The second section includes a first side, a second side, a third side, and a fourth side. In the first orientation, the first section is in a horizontal position and the second section is in a vertical position. In the second orientation, the second section is in a horizontal position and the first section is in a vertical position. The cavity is located within the first section and is configured and arranged to receive the bait when the base is in either the first orientation or the second orientation. The outer surface extends from the first section and forms a ramp proximate the bait, and the outer surface includes climbing assisting members to assist insects in crawling into the base. The first set of side climbing assisting members and the second set of side climbing assisting members are also proximate the bait and assist insects in crawling into the base. The first set of side climbing assisting members is proximate the second side of the second section. The second set of side climbing assisting members is proximate the third side of the second section.